Day 66, Wednesday, June 25
We survived the night under the pavilion at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds without getting swamped. To my surprise, towns and counties in the high desert leave sprinklers running all night, and Jefferson County is no different. One end of the pavilion was wet from runoff when we went to bed, and apparently John spent the night anxiously wondering if he would find his sleeping pad had become an island. It is unclear why he did not just move to the other end.
When we walked to dinner the night before we saw a 24x7 cafe, so that was our first stop in the morning. We needed a good breakfast for the day ahead. Our plan was to ride 57 miles to Frog Lake on the south side of Mt. Hood. That would set us up for very short ride to my house in Welches, Oregon the next day. Fifty-seven miles would be a relatively easy distance for us, but there would be almost 4000 feet of climbing. The temperature would not be too hot, but for long stretches we would be in the high desert under the sun.
The road through Madras is on a nice decline, so we flew through town. It was early enough for there to be a slight chill in the air. However, just north of Madras we had a small climb that warmed us up quickly. At the top of the climb we had most flat terrain for six or seven miles.
I had driven on US 26 a number of times over the years, so I knew what was coming. John, on the other hand, had no idea how close we were to the Deschutes River. Then the ground opened up and we were descending steeply down the side of a gorge. The road flattened out at the bottom and ran along the river for a two or three miles.
We had hoped to stop for second breakfast at the Indian Head Casino at the bottom of the gorge, run by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, but we were too early. The would not be open for another hour, so we contented ourselves with snacks and a cold drink at a convenience store before starting the climb out of the gorge. The climb was almost 1000 feet in less than four miles.
From the top of the climb the route flattened out for the next 20 miles or so, making for easy riding, then started climbing. As always in central Oregon, there was a lot of traffic on US 26, but the shoulder was wide and we had tremendous views of Mt. Hood.
As we reached the lower slopes of Mt. Hood we entered the forest. We had been in similar forests in the Blue Mountains in eastern Oregon, but this marked a real change: from here we would leave the desert behind and travel through the forests of northwestern Oregon all the way to Astoria. At some point in the afternoon we reached our highest point of the day, and the highest point we would reach for the rest of the trip, Blue Box Pass.
We were not far from my home on the western slope of Mt. Hood, so Lynn planned on driving out to meet us. As we were taking a break on the side of the road she drove up. It was a great joy to just to see my wife after more than two months on the road. As a bonus, she had food and cold drinks. We were a couple of miles from a trailhead where she could get safely off the road, so she drove there while we remounted our bikes to go meet her for lunch.
At this point we were just a few miles from Frog Lake where we planned to camp. Our plan was to set up camp, then Lynn would drive us into Government Camp, a town on the south side of Mt. Hood, for dinner. However, the forecast called for rain later in the evening which would probably continue until the morning. If we could bring ourselves to ride another 21 miles, with one climb, we could sleep under a roof and take a much needed rest day.
So after lunch we rode on. From Frog Lake we made a descent to the junction of US 26 and US 35, climbed to Government Camp, then enjoyed the huge descent from Government Camp to Welches: 2700 feet in 14 miles.
It was wonderful to ride up to my home for the first time in more than nine weeks. We parked our bikes in the garage and took the few things we needed into the house, leaving everything else for the next day. We could deal with sorting gear, doing laundry, and planning the last three days of our ride tomorrow.
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